Battling injured neck, Lockport’s Carlos Munoz-Flores felt he had one more big match in him. ‘It means so much to me.’

BLOOMINGTON — After injuring his neck in the sectional, Lockport’s Carlos Munoz-Flores had to make the heartbreaking decision to withdraw from the individual state tournament.

As a senior, however, Munoz-Flores was not ready for his career with the Porters to be over. He was determined to get back into the lineup for the Class 3A dual team state meet.

“It means so much to me to be with my team for this,” Munoz-Flores said. “It’s unfortunate I didn’t get to do it individually. But these boys, I love them all. They’re all brothers to me, and it felt great to have one last time with them.

“There’s still a lot of pain. But at the end of the day, it came down to knowing it was for the team. I’ll put my body on the line for this team, and I know these boys would do the same for me. That’s what was going through my mind and what kept me in the match.”

Munoz-Flores kept going in Friday night’s 46-18 victory over Warren. He earned a big win by major decision at 132 pounds to help Lockport clinch a state trophy.

The Porters went on to finish third in Class 3A for the second straight season, rolling to a 45-16 win over Yorkville in Saturday’s third-place match at Grossinger Motors Arena.

Payton Roberson, Dominic Vukobratovich, Isaac Zimmerman and Liam Zimmerman had pins to lead Lockport (19-9) past Yorkville.

Munoz-Flores lost his match in the dual against the Foxes but was still able to make a difference at state.

“It was good to see Carlos wrestle a really good match against Warren,” Lockport coach Jameson Oster said. “He had yet another new injury in the final 20 seconds of that match, and in this dual, I let him make the call.

“He wanted to wrestle. He ended up losing, but he lost a hard-fought match against a strong competitor. I think he went out on his own accord.”

Munoz-Flores, who also had his junior year cut short by injuries, won his consolation semifinal match at the Normal Sectional to clinch a state berth but was hurt in the process.

“It was bad,” Munoz-Flores said. “I’m thankful for my family for supporting me and helping me make the right decision for my safety. At the end of the day, my health is my most important thing. Wrestling comes second after life.

“All the injuries I’ve had throughout the years, I always wanted to push through the pain for my team.”

Vukobratovich, meanwhile, spent almost the whole season on the junior varsity. The sophomore had just one varsity win entering state but needed just 39 seconds to pin Yorkville’s Ramsey Barton at 106, clinching third place for the Porters.

“It felt great,” Vukobratovich said. “I knew the kid from some JV tournaments, so I was ready. I didn’t know I clinched it at first, but once I saw everybody jumping, I knew I did.”

Logan Kaminski, Christopher Miller, Durango Valles, Logan Swaw, Aidan Nolting and Wojciech Chrobak also had wins for the Porters.

Nolting said Lockport felt counted out after losing one of the nation’s top wrestlers when Brayden Thompson moved to Oklahoma in January.

In the end, the Porters still brought home another third-place trophy.

“It’s been a ride,” Nolting said. “The season didn’t necessarily go how we wanted it to, but we were able to push through adversity and take third at state. No one really expected that from us, to be honest.

“I think the seniors, as a whole, helped bring the team together, especially after Brayden leaving. This shows that we really just didn’t need him.”

Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.